By Joe Strupp
NEW YORK Andrew Olmsted, a U.S. Army major serving in Iraq who blogged for the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, died yesterday. His blog at the newspaper site, "From the Front Lines," now includes postings by several relatives who say they have been notified of his death.
The Rocky Mountain News confirmed the death early this evening, but offered no details. Then the Pentagon announced the he was one of two soldiers who "died Jan. 3 in As Sadiyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit using small arms fire during combat operations."
Earlier, one post at his blog began, "This is Maj Andrew Olmsted's mother-in-law. My Daughter, Amanda, Andy's wife, was notified today 1/3/08 that Andrew was killed today in Iraq when his team was ambushed. I want to thank all you wonderful people who commented on Andy's blogs and wished him and his team. He will be missed by many. Thank you also for all your prayers. I'm sure Andy has a special place in Heaven."
The most recent post: "Andy I'll miss you. I will love you forever . . .your sister Cathy."
Several friends also comment there.
Obsidianwings.blogs.com, which posted many of his opinions, provided what it described as a blog item to be posted in the event of his death.
"What I don't want this to be is a chance for me, or anyone else, to be maudlin. I'm dead. That sucks, at least for me and my family and friends," the entry states, in part. "But all the tears in the world aren't going to bring me back, so I would prefer that people remember the good things about me rather than mourning my loss. (If it turns out a specific number of tears will, in fact, bring me back to life, then by all means, break out the onions.)
"I had a pretty good life, as I noted above. Sure, all things being equal I would have preferred to have more time, but I have no business complaining with all the good fortune I've enjoyed in my life. So if you're up for that, put on a little 80s music (preferably vintage 1980-1984), grab a Coke and have a drink with me. If you have it, throw 'Freedom Isn't Free' from the Team America soundtrack in; if you can't laugh at that song, I think you need to lighten up a little. I'm dead, but if you're reading this, you're not, so take a moment to enjoy that happy fact."
His last item at the Rocky Mountain News was written Dec. 26, 2007, about the Muslim festival of "The Hajj." It is found at
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com.Although he had not written for that blog in more than a week, tributes have been filling up for the past few days in its comments section.
His blog description begins: "Fort Carson-based Army Major Andrew Olmsted is blogging from the war in Iraq, where his mission is to teach members of the Iraqi Army how to defend their country and provide security for their people."
Link:
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003692089
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